In a letter sent to DOT Secretary Buttigieg, T&I Committee members protest the use of airports to house illegal immigrants.
When everyday Americans cannot get into most areas of our airports, should illegal immigrants be granted access to secure airports? If DHS were to house illegal immigrants in America’s airports I am certain that the administration has plenty of answers and systems that can be put in place to ensure the security of the airports.
I feel that this foolish exercise to dismantle airport security to allow further lack of security at the USA’s borders is the height of foolishness. The Administration is now reduced to robbing Peter to pay Paul. I already have visions of a new security organization that will protect our airports from illegals.
The new administrative finding proposes moving more than 60,000 migrants to airports.
The Members of Congress cited reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed housing 60,000 migrants at four public airports and other facilities in New York and New Jersey, as has been done at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
“We adamantly oppose these ill-conceived plans that blatantly ignore the true crisis at hand and would inappropriately utilize America’s infrastructure. Our Nation’s airport infrastructure was built to facilitate commerce and transportation, not to serve as housing for unvetted and undocumented migrants. We request that you enforce public airport grant assurances and reject such plans,” the coalition of Members wrote. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s abject failure to protect our border or support policies that will keep America secure is an unconscionable dereliction of the most fundamental duty the Federal Government has to the citizens of this country.”
Generally, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is required to provide permission to anyone granted access to the non-passenger portions of the airports. That is why anyone who works at the airport has so many access passes. And it is the reason that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checks all passengers so carefully.
“These provisions prevent governments, including the Federal Government, from abusing taxpayer investment in aeronautical facilities and commandeering them at below-market rates for nonaeronautical and incompatible purposes. It is your responsibility to direct the FAA to reject any attempt by a Federal, state, or local agency to use airport facilities for such a nonaeronautical and incompatible purpose as housing migrants.”
The following letter was sent to the Secretary of Transportation and signed by 66 members of the House of Representatives.
November 6, 2023
The Honorable Pete Buttigieg
Secretary
United States Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590Dear Secretary Buttigieg:
We are deeply disturbed by reports that the Federal Government is allowing for and encouraging the use of our Nation’s airport infrastructure as temporary shelters for illegal immigrants. We adamantly oppose these ill-conceived plans that blatantly ignore the true crisis at hand and would inappropriately utilize America’s infrastructure. Our Nation’s airport infrastructure was built to facilitate commerce and transportation, not to serve as housing for unvetted and undocumented migrants. We request that you enforce public airport grant assurances and reject such plans.[1]
As you are aware, our Nation’s southern border is an uncontrolled and unmitigated disaster. Untold numbers of illegal immigrants cross our borders unchallenged every single day. Over six million illegal immigrants have entered the United States and been apprehended under President Biden’s failed leadership.[2] Many are then released into the United States, some of whom will presumably never be seen again.[3] The Biden-Harris Administration’s abject failure to protect our border or support policies that will keep America secure is an unconscionable dereliction of the most fundamental duty the Federal Government has to the citizens of this country.
Unsatisfied with the indignity of our unsecure southern border and incapable of dealing with the effect its failed policies have had, turning every state into a border state, this Administration is now reportedly proposing to transform our Nation’s airports into migrant camps.[4] The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed housing 60,000 migrants at four public airports and various other facilities in New York and New Jersey.[5] These airports and their communities rightfully fear being transformed into larger versions of Chicago O’Hare International Airport, which has reportedly converted portions of its terminal into a shelter for hundreds of migrants.[6] At a time when the Administration is proposing higher screening requirements on known airline crewmembers due to security risks, we are extremely concerned about the lack of regard for security risks posed by housing thousands of unknown persons at airports, many of which support passenger air service and host sensitive military facilities.[7]
Airports are generally required to request permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before using aeronautical land and facilities for nonaeronautical purposes, like the housing of migrants, on an interim basis.[8] These provisions prevent governments, including the Federal Government, from abusing taxpayer investment in aeronautical facilities and commandeering them at below-market rates for nonaeronautical and incompatible purposes. It is your responsibility to direct the FAA to reject any attempt by a Federal, state, or local agency to use airport facilities for such a nonaeronautical and incompatible purpose as housing migrants.
Airports are generally required to request permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before using aeronautical land and facilities for nonaeronautical purposes, like the housing of migrants, on an interim basis.[8] These provisions prevent governments, including the Federal Government, from abusing taxpayer investment in aeronautical facilities and commandeering them at below-market rates for nonaeronautical and incompatible purposes. It is your responsibility to direct the FAA to reject any attempt by a Federal, state, or local agency to use airport facilities for such a nonaeronautical and incompatible purpose as housing migrants.
To ensure the safety of the flying public, we request that you provide answers to the following questions no later than 5:00 pm on November 20, 2023:
1. How many and which airports regulated by the FAA currently host temporary or permanent shelters for illegal immigrants or other persons?
2. Has the FAA received or granted any request from an airport or a local, state, or Federal agency between January 20, 2021, and today to temporarily use aeronautical facilities for purposes of hosting a migrant shelter? If so, which?
3. To what extent has DHS consulted with the FAA about the appropriateness of proposing to house migrants at airports? If DHS has consulted with the FAA, what has been the FAA’s response? Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter. If you have any questions, please direct your staff to contact T. Hunter Presti, Majority Staff Director, Subcommittee on Aviation.
Sam Graves
Chairman
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure1 FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, AIRPORT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM GRANT ASSURANCES FOR AIRPORT SPONSORS (May 2022), available at
https://www faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/airports/new_england/airport_compliance/assurances-airport-sponsors-2022- 05.pdf.2 See Press Release, HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE, Actions Speak Louder Than Words, (Oct. 3, 2023), available athttps://www.gop.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=602.
3 Julia Ainsley, With border crossings up, U.S. begins releasing migrants onto U.S. streets again, NBC NEWS, (September 15, 2023), available at https://www nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/border-patrol-releases-migrants- city-streets-arizona-california-rcna105308.
4 Laura Nahmias, Biden Offers Airports in Atlantic City, on Canadian Border to House NYC Migrants, BLOOMBERG, (August 30, 2023), available at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-30/biden-offers-nyc-migrants- 11-sites-including-atlantic-city-airport.
5 Id.
6 Elizabeth Heckman, Chicago’s O’Hare Airport used as a migrant shelter as crisis overwhelms city: ‘Like a scene from Mad Max’, FOX NEWS, (September 7, 2023), available at https://www foxnews.com/media/chicagos-ohare- airport-used-migrant-shelter-crisis-overwhelms-city-like-scene-mad-max.
7 TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, NATIONAL AMENDMENT ON AVIATION WORKER SCREENING, TSA Order TSA-NA-23-02.
8 FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, AIRPORT COMPLIANCE MANUAL, Pg. 22-4, (last accessed Sept. 20, 2022), available at https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/order/5190_6b.pdf.
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Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
